Child rapist jailed for 11 years

Edward Adams

A pensioner who raped a 12-year-old girl on trips to remote locations has been jailed for 11 years.

Edward Adams, 76, first abused the schoolgirl in a secluded wood in Wakefield.

Judge Geoffrey Marson, passing sentence, said: “There was an element of grooming in that you began by telling her stories of a sexual nature.

“The assaults began in a secluded area, in a wood, where for perfectly understandable reasons she felt trapped because she had no sensible means of escape and getting back home.”

Adams, of John Carr Avenue, Horbury, was found guilty after a trial of two offences of rape on a child under 13, three of sexual assault and two of inciting a child under 13 to commit a sexual offence.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Adams was trusted by the girl’s family to take her on trips.

But he kept the trips secret from his wife and asked the girl to duck down in his car whenever they went anywhere near the houses of his relatives.

The judge said: “Over a period of weeks you used these visits to sexually assault her repeatedly in a serious way.”

The court heard how Adams told the “scared and confused” girl she would get into more trouble than he would if she complained and that she would not be believed.

She later told her mum she no longer wanted to go on trips with Adams and told her about some of the abuse. Her mum went to the police.

Adams denied the offences but was convicted after a trial earlier this summer.

But the court heard Adams has since made “limited admissions” of sexual offences against the girl and now was highly motivated to change.

Judge Marson added: “It’s a great pity you didn’t make these admissions before the trial began.”

The court heard, in a victim impact statement, how the girl gets flashbacks when she starts to shake and cry.

The judge said: “These offences will have had a profound psychological effect on her and I doubt she will ever be able to put these matters behind her.”

Matthew Harding, mitigating, said: “He is 76 years of age, while he doesn’t have any serious health problems, clearly custody will not be easy for a man of his age, of hitherto good character.”